Forester offers a comfortable drive with minor annoyances

Originally published: July 22, 2013

The redesigned 2014 Subaru Forester is turning into a sales leader for the Japanese automaker, helping it achieve figures never seen in the company’s time in Canada.

After a week behind the wheel, it is evident why consumers are flocking to Subaru dealers to snap up this five-seat sport utility vehicle.

Pricing for the Forester starts at $27,760 for the 2.5i model, increasing to $37,560 for the well-equipped Limited Package with EyeSight and Multimedia option.

Design

Depending on your choice of engine, your Forester will look a little different from the front end.

Opting for the 2.0L turbo engine brings with it a little sportier and more aggressive front look – one I like.

For the 2.5L engine, the front look is a little more traditional, but remains an improvement over the outgoing model.

Inside, the cabin is updated nicely, with large dials for climate controls, display screens, nice materials and a cozy feel.

One issue I found on the interior was with the panoramic sunroof on the Limited trim. While this feature lets in a lot of light, opening and closing the shade can be a bit of a challenge since it is manual. Normally on panoramic sunroofs, the shade is powered, but on the Forester it takes longer arms than mine to get it all the way open.

Performance

There are a couple of available engines for consumers considering the Forester. The more powerful of the two is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder BOXER engine with a twin-scroll turbocharger. It pumps out 250 horsepower and 258 foot-pounds of torque.

The bigger but less powerful engine was in the Jasmine Green Metallic Forester I drove. It is a 2.5L four-cylinder BOXER engine, offering 170 horsepower and 174 foot-pounds of torque.

Consumers also have a choice of transmissions, from a six-speed manual to a Lineartronic continuously variable transmission.

The CVT is one of the few weak points I found with the Forester, but it is not a complaint unique to Subaru. Thankfully, like the Crosstrek, the Forester CVT has paddle shifters that allow you to force the transmission into a higher or lower setting (we can’t say gears because, technically, a CVT doesn’t have any).

That function takes away most of the annoyance behind a CVT, but whether or not you want to constantly be working with the paddle shifters is another issue.

And while the Forester felt competent with the 170 horses from the 2.5L engine, I would have liked to experience the turbocharged engine. Next time, I guess.

The Forester also has what is called X-Mode. The system takes control of the engine, transmission, all-wheel drive system, brakes and other systems during adverse driving conditions. It also helps with steep inclines and, on CVT models, comes with hill descent control.

The Forester, which comes with Subaru’s symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive system, has an estimated fuel consumption of 8.3 litres per 100 kilometres in the city and 6.2 L/100 km on the highway. While the on-board computer said my average at the end of the week was 9.0 L/100 km, my calculations showed an average of 10.8 L/100 km.

Driving/utility

In the end, the overall feeling from the 2014 Forester was heavily weighted to the positive side.

The ride is comfortable and fairly quiet inside the redesigned cabin.

Sightlines were excellent, with minimal blind spots up front and on the sides.

There is a good amount of legroom remaining behind the front seats, which means rear passengers should have little to complain about.

Ergonomically, the Forester’s interior is quasi perfect. The one issue I had was with the two screens in the centre stack of the Limited trim. When putting the Forester in reverse, the eye tends to naturally gravitate to the large lower screen to look for the image from the rear-view camera. But the image instead appears on the smaller upper screen. It’s not a deal-breaker by any means, though.

Another issue I experienced was how long it takes said reverse gear to engage. There is an apparent lag time between shifting into R and when the Forester engages the gear. That nearly proved costly in a parking lot as the SUV wouldn’t respond to my commands as I tried to avoid being hit by a car leaving a spot whose driver wasn’t paying attention.

My test vehicle also came with Subaru’s EyeSight system. It uses a pair of cameras mounted at the top of the windshield to provide features like adaptive cruise control, pre-collision braking, pre-collision throttle management and lane departure warning.

Cargo capacity in the Forester varies a little depending on whether the model you choose has a sunroof or not. With the sunroof, there is 31.5 cubic feet available behind the rear seats. Without, it’s 34.4.

Lower the back seats and you have 68.5 cubic feet of room for sunroof models and 74.7 for those without a window to the heavens.